In a statement here today, AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha emphatically stated that her party was not in agreement with any proposal that would jeopardise the interests of secularism, national unity and integrity.

``It is regrettable that the HRD ministry attempted to sneak the agenda through in spite of stiff opposition from various state governments and political parties. The BJP, the dominant party of the coalition, should realise that the criticism that it has no people's mandate to push through its own controversial agenda is not entirely devoid of validity''.

The national agenda for governance, adopted by all parties of the coalition,put all such controversial issues on the ``backburner'', Jayalalitha said.

She said, while the Prime Minister's inaugural speech at the conference showed that he was alive to the legitimate questions and implications of the move, ``strangely'' the HRD minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, was ``intent on steering the ship of the state in a diametrically opposite direction.''

The AIADMK chief said, ``the whole episode leaves a pertinent question hanging in air as to whether the minister receives directives and inspiration from sources other than the prime minister.''

Though the minister agreed to remove controversial items from the agenda and called off a proposed presentation by PD Chitlangia of a non-government organisation, ``it is very clear that the last minute decision was due to compulsion and certainly not due to Joshi's seeing reason,'' she said.

The voices of protest from several state ministers were strong and there was no alternative to deleting the notes prepared by a group of experts from theagenda, she said.

The government had ``wittingly or unwittingly, pushed itself into an embarrassing situation wherein Punjab education minister of the Akali Dal, a partner of the BJP government, at the Centre, and the Andhra Pradesh education minister of Telugu Desam Party, supporting the coalition government, had to voice their opposition to the ministry's move.